History of Kilkenny - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The history of Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...

began with an early sixth century ecclesiastical foundation, this relates to a church built in honour of St. Canice, now St. Canice's Cathedral and was a major monastic centre from at least the eighth century. The Annals of the Four Masters
Annals of the Four Masters
The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland or the Annals of the Four Masters are a chronicle of medieval Irish history...

recorded the first reference Cill Chainnigh in 1085. Prehistoric activity has been recorded suggesting intermittent settlement activity in the area in the Mesolithic and Bronze Age. Information on the history of Kilkenny can be found from newspapers, photographs, letters, drawings, manuscripts and archaeology. Kilkenny is documented in manuscripts from the 13th century onwards and one of the most important of these is Liber Primus Kilkenniensis.

The Kings of Ossary

Kingdom of Osraige

The Kingdom of Osraighe , anglicized as Ossory, was an ancient kingdom of Ireland. It formed the easternmost part of the kingdom and province of Munster until the middle of the 9th century, after which it attached itself to Leinster...

had residence around Cill Chainnigh. The seat of diocese of Kingdom of Osraige

Kingdom of Osraige

was moved from Aghaboe

Aghaboe

Aghaboe is a village and parish in County Laois, Ireland. It is located on the R434 regional road in the rural hinterland west of the town of Abbeyleix....

to Cill Chainnigh. Following Norman invasion of Ireland

Norman Invasion of Ireland

The Norman invasion of Ireland was a two-stage process, which began on 1 May 1169 when a force of loosely associated Norman knights landed near Bannow, County Wexford...

, Richard Strongbow

Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke , Lord of Leinster, Justiciar of Ireland . Like his father, he was also commonly known as Strongbow...

, as Lord of Lenister

Lordship of Ireland

The Lordship of Ireland refers to that part of Ireland that was under the rule of the king of England, styled Lord of Ireland, between 1177 and 1541. It was created in the wake of the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71 and was succeeded by the Kingdom of Ireland...

, established a castle near modern day Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways...

. William Marshall

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

Sir William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke , also called William the Marshal , was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He was described as the "greatest knight that ever lived" by Stephen Langton...

began the development of the town of Kilkenny and a series of walls to protect the burghers

Bourgeoisie

In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...

. By the late thirteenth century Kilkenny was under Norman-Irish

Hiberno-Norman

The Hiberno-Normans are those Norman lords who settled in Ireland who admitted little if any real fealty to the Anglo-Norman settlers in England, and who soon began to interact and intermarry with the Gaelic nobility of Ireland. The term embraces both their origins as a distinct community with...

control. The original ecclesiastical centre at St. Canice's Cathedral became known as Irishtown and the Anglo-Norman borough inside the wall came to be known as Hightown.

Hiberno-Norman

Hiberno-Norman

Kilkenny presence in Kilkenny was deeply shaken by the Black Death

Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

, which arrived in Kilkenny in 1348. The Statutes of Kilkenny

Statutes of Kilkenny

The Statutes of Kilkenny were a series of thirty-five acts passed at Kilkenny in 1366, aiming to curb the decline of the Hiberno-Norman Lordship of Ireland.-Background to the Statutes:...

passed at Kilkenny in 1367, aimed to curb the decline of the Hiberno-Norman

Hiberno-Norman

Lordship of Ireland

. In 1609 King James I of England

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

granted Kilkenny a Royal Charter

Royal Charter

A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...

giving it the status of a city. Following the Rebellion of 1641

Irish Rebellion of 1641

The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule...

, the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny", and was based in Kilkenny and lasted until the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...

in 1649. James II of England

James II of England

James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...

spent most of the winter months from November 1689 until January 1690 at Kilkenny, residing in the castle

The Kilkenny Design Workshops were opened in 1965 and in 1967 the Marquess of Ormonde presented Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways...

to the people of Kilkenny. Today, the city has a lively cultural scene, with annual events including the Kilkenny Arts Week Festival in the last two weeks of August, and the Cat Laughs

Cat Laughs

The Cat Laughs Comedy Festival is a comedy festival held over the first weekend in June each year in Kilkenny, Ireland. It was founded in 1994 in response to the burgeoning wealth of Irish comic talent with no clear national outlet for expression...

Comedy Festival at the beginning of June. The City has been referred to as the Marble City. People from Kilkenny are often referred to as Cats. The seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ossory is at St. Mary's Cathedral

St. Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny

St. Mary’s is the Roman Catholic cathedral for the Diocese of Ossory. It is situated on James’s Street, Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland. Kilkenny also has a second cathedral, Saint Canice’s which is Church of Ireland....

and the Church of Ireland

Church of Ireland

The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...

Bishop of Cashel and Ossory

Bishop of Ossory

The Bishop of Ossory is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient of Kingdom of Ossory in the Province of Leinster, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bishoprics.-History:The diocese of Ossory...

is at St. Canice's Cathedral.

Prehistoric

Prehistoric activity has been recorded suggesting intermittent settlement activity in the area in the Mesolithic and Bronze Age.

Early Christian

Kilkenny is the anglicised version of the Irish Cill Chainnigh, meaning Cell/Church of Cainneach or Canice. This relates to a church built in honour of St. Canice on the hill now containing St. Canice's Cathedral

St Canice's Cathedral

St Canice's Cathedral , is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Kilkenny city, Ireland. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin....

and the round tower

Irish round tower

Irish round towers , Cloigthithe – literally "bell house") are early medieval stone towers of a type found mainly in Ireland, with three in Scotland and one on the Isle of Man...

. This seems to be the first major settlement. The early Christian origin of the round tower suggests an early ecclesiastical foundation at Kilkenny.
The Annals of the Four Masters
Annals of the Four Masters
The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland or the Annals of the Four Masters are a chronicle of medieval Irish history...

recorded Kilkenny in 1085. Prior to this time the early 6th century territory was known as Osraighe, referring to the whole district or the capital. The Four Masters entry was the first instance where the capital was called Ceall-Cainnigh (modernized Kilkenny). There is no mention of Cill Chainnigh in the lives of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Ciarán of Saighir

Ciarán of Saighir

Saint Ciarán mac Luaigne or Ciarán of Saigir was an early Irish bishop and patron saint of Ossory, who was supposed to have flourished in the second half of the 5th century. He is also referred to as Ciarán the Elder in order to distinguish him from Ciarán of Clonmacnoise...

or any of the early annals of Ireland

Irish annals

A number of Irish annals were compiled up to and shortly after the end of Gaelic Ireland in the 17th century.Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days...

suggesting that Cill Chainnigh was not of ancient civil importance. Cill Chainnigh was a major monastic centre from at least the eighth century and the Kings of Ossary

Kingdom of Osraige

had residence there. The seat of diocese of Kingdom of Osraige

Kingdom of Osraige

was moved from Aghaboe

Aghaboe

Aghaboe is a village and parish in County Laois, Ireland. It is located on the R434 regional road in the rural hinterland west of the town of Abbeyleix....

to Cill Chainnigh.

Medieval (1169—1541)

Kilkenny formed part of the Lordship of Lenister

Lordship of Ireland

created in the wake of the Norman invasion of Ireland

Norman Invasion of Ireland

The Norman invasion of Ireland was a two-stage process, which began on 1 May 1169 when a force of loosely associated Norman knights landed near Bannow, County Wexford...

in 1169-71. Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke , Lord of Leinster, Justiciar of Ireland . Like his father, he was also commonly known as Strongbow...

, commonly known as Strongbow, became Lord of Leinster in 1171. In 1172 Strongbow constructed the first castle, a wooden fortress, near what is now Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways...

. This was possibly on the site of an earlier residence of the Mac Gilla Pátraic (Fitzpatrick) who was in control of the Kingdom of Osraige

Kingdom of Osraige

. The building of Norman

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

fortresses, walls, castle and town begun. In an attempt by the Gaelic clans to resist the Normans, O'Brien and Mac Gillapatrick destroyed Strongbow's fortress in 1173.

King of England Richard I arranged for William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

to marry the 17-year-old daughter of Richard Strongbow

Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke , Lord of Leinster, Justiciar of Ireland . Like his father, he was also commonly known as Strongbow...

Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke in 1189. Earl Marshal

Earl Marshal

Earl Marshal is a hereditary royal officeholder and chivalric title under the sovereign of the United Kingdom used in England...

, William Marshall

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

become Lord of Leinster 1192 and made numerous improvements to his wife's lands, including in Kilkenny. With the appointment of Geoffrey FitzRobert as Seneschal

Seneschal

A seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...

of Leinster

Leinster

Leinster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled...

a major phase of development in Kilkenny began. In 1195 William Marshall

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

rebuilt the fortress at Kilkenny, later to be rebuilt (close-by) as the thirteenth century Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways...

.

In 1202 under the reign of Hugh De Rous, Bishop of Ossory

Bishop of Ossory

(1202–1215), work began on St. Canice's Cathedral. Certain historians cite this as the timeframe the See of Ossory was moved from Aghaboe

Aghaboe

Aghaboe is a village and parish in County Laois, Ireland. It is located on the R434 regional road in the rural hinterland west of the town of Abbeyleix....

to Kilkenny. The first stone castle at Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways...

was begun in 1204 by William Marshall

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

the site was completed in 1213. A charter of 1207 from William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

confirmed privileges on the town and the town was extended northwards as far as the River Breagagh by an exchange of lands with the bishop of Ossory.

There were two townships: Irishtown and Hightown. The original ecclesiastical centre at St. Canice's Cathedral became known as Irishtown and was a possession of the bishop of Ossory. The Anglo-Norman borough inside the wall came to be known as Hightown. Irishtown had its charter from the bishops of Ossory and Hightown which was established by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

. A series of walls was built to protect the burghers.

The Augustinians order of monks were based in John Street prior to 1200. In 1211, William Marshall

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

granted by charter a new site in the present John Street for a new Priory, known as the Priory of St. John the Evangelist. Building continued on the site for many years. In 1219 William Marshall

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

, seneschal of Ireland died.

The Black Abbey was founded in Kilkenny city by William Marshall the younger. By the late thirteenth century Kilkenny was under Norman-Irish

Hiberno-Norman

control. The Norman presence in the city is still very evident.

Witchcraft

In the Late Middle Ages

Late Middle Ages

The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century . The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era ....

, 1320, the first recorded instance of a person being charged with witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

in Ireland was Dame Alice Kyteler, the only child of an established Hiberno-Norman

Hiberno-Norman

family in Kilkenny. The trail of Alice, her son and ten others, for heresy, was of one of the earliest witchcraft accusations in Europe. It was the first known trial to treat women practicing witchcraft as an organized group. While centuries before the more famous witch trials in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Pope John XXII had formalized the persecution of witchcraft in 1320 when he authorized the Inquisition

Inquisition

The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...

to prosecute sorcerers. While those accused of witchcraft were not tortured and executed on a large scale until the fifteenth century, in Kilkenny, those convicted were whipped and Petronilla de Meath

Petronilla de Meath

Petronilla de Meath was the maidservant of Dame Alice Kyteler, a fourteenth century Irish noblewoman. After the death of Kyteler's fourth husband, Kyteler was accused of practicing witchcraft and Petronilla was accused of being her accomplice. Petronilla was tortured and forced to proclaim that...

, Alice's maidservant, was burned alive at the stake. She was the first case in Ireland's history of death by fire for the crime of heresy

Heresy

Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...

.

Dame Alice Kyteler was born in 1280 into the noble Kyteler family in Kilkenny. Alice was married four times, and each husband died. After her last husband Sir John le Poer died, her children accused her of using poison and sorcery to kill him, in the hope they would gain her fortune. The case was brought before the Bishop of Ossory

Bishop of Ossory

, Richard de Ledrede and he found Alice and her followers rejected the Christian faith. The bishop wrote to the Chancellor of Ireland, Roger Utlagh

Roger Utlagh

Roger Utlagh, or Roger Outlawe was a leading Irish statesman of the fourteenth century and held the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland...

or Outlawe to have Alice arrested. Outlawe was Alice's brother-in-law and he imprisoned the Bishop and Sir Arnold le Poer, the seneschal

Seneschal

of Kilkenny. After seventeen days in prison, the bishop was released and continued to pursue and torture Alice's maidservant Petronilla de Meath

Petronilla de Meath

. Alice and Petronilla's daughter, Basilia flee to the Kingdom of England

Kingdom of England

The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...

. Petronilla was then forced to proclaim publicly that Alice and her followers were guilty of witchcraft. Her extracted confession included claims that she and her mistress applied a magical ointment to a wooden beam, which enabled both women to fly. She was then burned alive at the stake.

Statutes of Kilkenny

Hiberno-Norman Kilkenny presence in Kilkenny was deeply shaken by the Black Death

Black Death

, which arrived in Kilkenny in 1348. Because most of the English and Norman inhabitants of Kilkenny lived in towns and villages, the plague hit them far harder than it did the native Irish, who lived in more dispersed rural settlements.

A celebrated account from a monastery in Cill Chainnigh (Kilkenny), by Friar John Clyn

John Clyn

John Clyn of the Friars Minor, Kilkenny, was a 14th century Irish monk and chronicler who lived at the time of the Black Death.-Background:...

in 1348 chronicles the plague as the beginning of the extinction of humanity and the end of the world.
The plague was a catastrophe for the English habitations around the country and, after it had passed, Gaelic Irish language and customs came to dominate the country again. The English-controlled area shrunk back to the Pale, a fortified area around Dublin.
The Statutes of Kilkenny

Statutes of Kilkenny

The Statutes of Kilkenny were a series of thirty-five acts passed at Kilkenny in 1366, aiming to curb the decline of the Hiberno-Norman Lordship of Ireland.-Background to the Statutes:...

were a series of thirty-five acts passed at Kilkenny in 1367, aiming to curb the decline of the Hiberno-Norman

Hiberno-Norman

Lordship of Ireland

. By the middle decades of the 13th century, the Hiberno-Norman

Hiberno-Norman

presence in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

was perceived to be under threat, mostly due to the dissolution of English laws and customs among English settlers. These English settlers were described as "more Irish than the Irish themselves
More Irish than the Irish themselves
"More Irish than the Irish themselves" is a phrase used in Irish historiography to describe a phenomenon of cultural assimilation in late medieval Norman Ireland....

", referring to them taking up Irish law, custom, costume and language. The introduction to the text of the statutes claim;
The statutes tried to prevent this "middle nation", which was neither true English nor (subjugated) Irish, by reasserting English culture among the English settlers.

The statutes begin by recognising that the English settlers had been influenced by Irish culture and customs, as quoted above. They forebode the intermarriage between the native Irish and the native English, the English fostering of Irish children, the English adoption of Irish children and use of Irish names and dress. Those English colonists who did not know how to speak English were required to learn the language (on pain of losing their land and belongings), along with many other English customs. The Irish pastimes of "horling" and "coiting" were to be dropped and pursuits such as archery and lancing to be taken up, so that the English colonists would be more able to defend against Irish aggression, using English military tactics.

City of Kilkenny

William Marshall

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

, Lord of Leinster, had given Kilkenny a charter setting out the rights of its burgesses and freemen in 1207. Its first Council was elected in 1231 and since then Kilkenny has had a continuous record of municipal government. From the 13th century to the end of the 16th the chief magistrate was known as the Sovereign, and since then as Mayor, for its chief citizen.

King James I of England

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

granted Kilkenny a royal charter

Royal Charter

conferring the status of a City in 1609. A 17th century description of the City of Kilkenny lies in a manuscript called De Ossoriensi Dioescesi, which was a tract on the diocese of Ossary believed to be written by David Rothe

David Rothe

David Rothe was a Roman Catholic Bishop of Ossory, central Ireland.-Life:He was born at Kilkenny, of a distinguished family. Having studied at the Irish College, Douai, and at the University of Salamanca, where he graduated doctor in civil and canon law, he was ordained in 1600, and proceeded to...

the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ossary.

The manuscript translates from Latin as;
Kilkenny is described as the City of Kilkenny or Kilkenny City but does not have a city council. The Local Government Act 2001 allows for the continued use of city;

Jacobite and Williamite City

In the late 17th century Kilkenny could be described as a Jacobite

Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

and a Williamite

Williamite

Williamite refers to the followers of King William III of England who deposed King James II in the Glorious Revolution. William, the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, replaced James with the support of English Whigs....

city. James II of England

James II of England

's pro-Catholic and Pro-France policies provoked a revolt in England and the king fled to France. With the assistance of French troops in March 1689 James landed he landed at Kinsale in Ireland and via Kilkenny went to Dublin. The Irish Parliament

Parliament of Ireland

The Parliament of Ireland was a legislature that existed in Dublin from 1297 until 1800. In its early mediaeval period during the Lordship of Ireland it consisted of either two or three chambers: the House of Commons, elected by a very restricted suffrage, the House of Lords in which the lords...

declared that James remained King and passed a massive bill of attainder against those who had rebelled against him. The Irish parliament declared the lands of Protestant supporters of William of Orange

William III of England

William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...

, such as James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde

James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde

James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde KG KT was an Irish statesman and soldier. He was the third of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom of Ormonde...

, to be forfeit.

James II of England

James II of England

spent most of the winter months from November 1689 until January 1690 at Kilkenny, residing in the castle James worked to build an army in Ireland, but was ultimately defeated at the Battle of the Boyne

Battle of the Boyne

The Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690 between two rival claimants of the English, Scottish and Irish thronesthe Catholic King James and the Protestant King William across the River Boyne near Drogheda on the east coast of Ireland...

on 1 July 1690 when William arrived, personally leading an army to defeat James and reassert English control. After James's defeat at the Battle of the Boyne, his retreating army passed through Kilkenny on its way to Limerick and forced the citizens to pay protection money in order to save the city from looting. James fled to France once more, departing from Kinsale

Kinsale

Kinsale is a town in County Cork, Ireland. Located some 25 km south of Cork City on the coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon and has a population of 2,257 which increases substantially during the summer months when the tourist season is at its peak and...

, never to return to any of his former kingdoms.

Kilkenny surrendered to the Williamites without firing a shot, and the propertied Old English families, who had supported James, lost everything. The Williamite army, commanded by General Godert de Ginkel, camped beside Kilkenny making the city the winter headquarters from October 1690 until May 1691 when it moved on to besiege Limerick.

During the late 17th century James II had urged the Irish Parliament to pass an Act for Liberty of Conscience that granted religious freedom to all Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. He elevated the Catholic college into a university at the Royal College of St. Canice. It took over the premises of Ormonde's grammar school at Kilkenny College. Six months later, after James's defeat at the battle of the Boyne, the university was forced to close.

Lord Lieutenant of Kilkenny

The office of Lord Lieutenant

Lord Lieutenant

The title Lord Lieutenant is given to the British monarch's personal representatives in the United Kingdom, usually in a county or similar circumscription, with varying tasks throughout history. Usually a retired local notable, senior military officer, peer or business person is given the post...

of Kilkenny

Kilkenny

Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...

was created on 23 August 1831. James Butler, 1st Marquess of Ormonde

James Butler, 1st Marquess of Ormonde

James Wandesford Butler, 1st Marquess of Ormonde KP was an Irish nobleman and politician. He was the second son of John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde and Frances Susan Elizabeth Wandesford....

, John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough

John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough

John William Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough PC , known as Viscount Duncannon from 1793 to 1844, was a British Whig politician...

, William Frederick Fownes Tighe, James Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde

James Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde

James Edward William Theobald Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde KP PC , styled Earl of Ossory until 1854, was an Irish nobleman.-Biography:...

and Hamilton Cuffe, 5th Earl of Desart

Hamilton Cuffe, 5th Earl of Desart

Hamilton John Agmondesham Cuffe, 5th Earl of Desart, KP, KCB, PC was an Irish peer and solicitor.-Early life:...

held that office.

Modern history

Kilkenny won their first All-Ireland Hurling Title in 1904. John's Church

Church of Saint John the Evangelist, Kilkenny

The Church of Saint John the Evangelist, or John's Church, is a Gothic Revival style church in Kilkenny, Ireland. The Church was built from 1903 to 1908 on the site of an earlier church located in the graveyard. The grounds contain a trees and greenery....

was built from 1903 to 1908. In 1904, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

and his wife Queen Alexandra visited Kilkenny. The city was filled with thousands of people. The King spoke of his deep interest in the Irish people and his desire to promote their welfare.

W.T. Cosgrave

W.T. Cosgrave

William Thomas Cosgrave , known generally as W. T. Cosgrave, was an Irish politician who succeeded Michael Collins as Chairman of the Irish Provisional Government from August to December 1922. He served as the first President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 to...

won a by-election in Kilkenny in 1917 for the Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

Party. In early May 1922 before the Irish Civil War

Irish Civil War

The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....

there was a serious clash in Kilkenny, when anti-Treaty forces occupied the centre of the city and 200 pro-Treaty troops were sent from Dublin to disperse them. On 3 May the Dáil

Dáil Éireann

Dáil Éireann is the lower house, but principal chamber, of the Oireachtas , which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann . It is directly elected at least once in every five years under the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote...

was informed that 18 men had been killed in the fighting in Kilkenny. In a bid to avoid an all-out civil war, both sides agreed to a truce on May 3, 1922. On December 15, 1922, the Irish Free State Kilkenny Barracks were reported to have overrun and captured by irregulars.

Kilkenny Castle was closed in 1935 and the Ormonde family left Ireland. The Kilkenny Design Workshops were opened in 1965 and in 1967 the Marquess of Ormonde presented Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways...

to the people of Kilkenny. Margaret Tynan became the first woman elected Mayor of Kilkenny

Mayor of Kilkenny

The Mayor of Kilkenny is an honorific title used by the of Kilkenny Borough Council. The Council has jurisdiction throughout its administrative area which is the city of Kilkenny in the Republic of Ireland. The office was established in the 16th century and had significant powers. The office was...

.

A new stamp marking the 400th anniversary of Kilkenny’s upgrade from town to city status was issued by An Post

An Post

An Post is the State-owned provider of postal services in the Republic of Ireland. An Post provides a universal postal service to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union...

on June 16, 2009. The stamp features an illustration of Kilkenny Castle, as viewed from the quays, with St. John's Bridge in the foreground. In 2009, Mayor Malcolm Noonan became the first Green Party

Green Party (Ireland)

The Green Party is a green political party in Ireland. It was founded as the Ecology Party of Ireland in 1981 by Dublin teacher Christopher Fettes. The party became the Green Alliance in 1983 and in 1987 was renamed to its current title in English...

mayor. The Heritage Council

Heritage Council

The National Heritage Council is an organisation created by the Irish government to "propose policies and priorities for the identification, protection, preservation and enhancement of the national heritage."...

offices were moved to Church Lane.

Today, the city has a lively cultural scene, with annual events including the Kilkenny Arts Week Festival in the last two weeks of August, and the Cat Laughs

Cat Laughs

Comedy Festival at the beginning of June.

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